1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to computer systems. More particularly, the invention is directed to digital rights management within a computing environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
In prior years it would not be uncommon for an individual to obtain content (e.g., literary works, periodicals, music, and movies) from a retail location in the form of a physical medium. For example, an individual might travel to a local bookstore and purchase written works in the form of a book, newspaper, or magazine. In another example, an individual might purchase music stored on a Compact Disc (CD) or a motion picture stored on a Digital Video Disc (DVD). In recent years, the ubiquity of the Internet and the World Wide Web has paved the way for alternative methods of obtaining content. For example, a user might log on to a music retailer's website and download a digital version of a music album. In other examples, a user might log on to a movie subscription provider's website to download or stream a motion picture to view on a personal computer. In the case of books, a user might log on to a bookseller's website and download an electronic book (“e-book”) for viewing on a computer system, such as a desktop computer or a handheld e-book reader.
The Internet and World Wide Web serve as a backbone for numerous file sharing mechanisms. Examples of such mechanisms include electronic mail (“email”) and more advanced file distribution software, such as peer-to-peer (“P2P”) file sharing applications. In many cases, such file sharing mechanisms are often utilized to distribute electronic content to individuals that are not authorized to access such content. Such distribution is likely due in part to the relative ease and anonymity of sharing files through such mechanisms. To combat unauthorized consumption of content, some content owners have adopted an approach to protecting their content known as digital rights management (“DRM”), which may include various techniques for limiting access of electronic content to authorized individuals.
Conventional DRM methods for protecting electronic content transmitted across the Internet use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to encrypt data sent between trusted endpoints. The SSL protocol decrypts data at the transport layer within a computer system. Thus, data (i.e., electronic content) is decrypted at the network card within a computer system and travels from the network card through the operating system (OS) to a software application (i.e., a software application configured to consume electronic content) on the system in an unencrypted, unprotected state. While traveling through the OS in an unprotected state, electronic content may be vulnerable to attack by commonly available debugging tools (e.g. the Charles Web Debugging Proxy) which may intercept and alter the transmitted data. Thus, the debugging tool may be used on an end user's system to gain unauthorized access to electronic content.
The SSL protocol traditionally uses public key infrastructure (PKI), which establishes asymmetric public-private key pairs used for message encryption and decryption. Establishing a PKI infrastructure on a user's system in order to limit access to electronic content on the system requires loading the encryption keys and configuring the particular system, which may require significant effort from a user or system administrator. The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is typically used to define the format and transmission of messages across the Internet. The SOAP protocol uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) to define the SOAP message format. The format defined by XML, along with other requirements of SOAP, can result in lengthy messages with additional overhead beyond the basic information that may be required for tasks such as authenticating a user as a trusted consumer of electronic content.